THE BOOR AND THE STAG.
A stag that had left the hounds a long way off, came up to a man who was at work on a farm, to ask if he would show him some safe place to hide in. So the man bade him hide in his own hut, which was close by. The stag lay quite still in the hut, and in a short time up came the squire and his train with the hounds. The squire caught sight of the boor, and drew back to ask him if he had seen the stag pass that way. “No,” said the boor, in a loud tone, “I have not.” At the same time—as he had a wish to keep on good terms with the squire—he held out his hand, with a sly look, to point to the hut where the stag lay hid; but as luck would have it, the squire took no heed of this sign, nor did he so much as see it. So on he went to join the rest; but though they rode through the field where the hut was, they did not see the stag. As soon as they were well out of sight, the stag stole from the hut, but said not a word to the boor, who now gave a loud call to him. “You wretch!” said he, “you owe your life to me, yet when you leave my hut, where I sent you to screen you from your foes, you say not one word of thanks.” “Nay,” quoth the stag, “you may make sure I should fill your ears as full of praise and thanks as my heart is of joy, if your deeds had been true to your words; in short, if I had not, through the door of the hut, seen your hand play false to your tongue.”